Labour's first televised leadership hustings were dull and achieved very little

The first televised debate in the Labour leadership contest was a rather dull affair. None of the candidates shone and no one stumbled. Although there were a few moments of interest, everyone conformed to their stereotypes. Andy Burnham was brash and appeared too keen to speak over the other candidates. He spoke about the problems of the ‘Westminster elite’ and how Labour needs to break free from that mould — despite having worked in politics his whole career and even spending time as a special adviser before becoming an MP.

Yvette Cooper was the best performer and gave a good response to the question on the welfare state, citing her own personal experience in the past. But Cooper failed to answer the basic question of why she’s running for Labour leader. She said that the next Labour leader needs to have both ‘experience and new ideas’, but her performance suggested that she can only fulfil one of those criteria.